Eastern Washington state rep apologizes for asking if group of teens are virgins

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Photo of Mary Dye from houserepublicans.wa.gov

Eastern Washington state rep apologizes for asking if group of teens are virgins

Photo of Mary Dye from houserepublicans.wa.gov

OLYMPIA – A state representative from Eastern Washington apologized Tuesday for asking a group of high school students if they were virgins, the Seattle Times reported.

The Times reports that Rep. Mary Dye (R-Pomery) met with a group of students who were visiting as part of Planned Parenthood’s teen lobbying day, and that she went so far as to suggest one of the teens wasn’t a virgin.

“It seemed kind of insane for her to say that, especially on the record, to constituents,” one of the students who was in the room, 18-year-old Alex Rubino, told the Times.

Rachel Todd, a Planned Parenthood worker who was accompanying the group, told the Times that she’d never seen anything like it.

“I’ve never been in any type of meeting, especially with teens, where an adult, especially an adult legislator, was so incredibly disrespectful and inappropriate,” she said.

Dye apologized on Tuesday.

“Following a conversation they initiated on birth control for teenagers, I talked about the empowerment of women and making good choices — opinions shaped by my mother and being a mother of three daughters.

“In hindsight, a few of the thoughts I shared, while well-intended, may have come across as more motherly than what they would expect from their state representative. If anything I said offended them or made them feel uncomfortable, apologize.”